Engine



Apr. 24, 1923. 1,452,572 H. 'r. PROSSER ENGINE Filed Jan. 21, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jjg/EQTOR BY ATTO'ZNE'YS Apr. 24, 1923.

H. T. PROSS ER ENGINE Filed Jan. 21, 1922 2 Sheets-$heet 2 INVENTORQ ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 24, 1923.

HAROLD T. PEOSSER, OF CHICOPEE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS.

ENGINE.

Application filed January 21; 1922. Serial No. 530,959.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HAROLD T. PRossnR, citizen of the United States, residing at Ohioopee Falls, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Engines, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in engines and more particularly to rotary internal combustion engines of the type in which the rotary element comprises a plurality of radial cylinders each having a piston reciprocating therein to effect the rotation of said element.

One object of the invention is to provide an engine of the general character above described having great efi iciency with a minimum number of operating parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a multiple cylinder engine capable of transmitting rotary motion to a driven shaft without the employment of cranks or cams.

A further object of the invention is to simplify the construction and improve the mode of operation of internal combustion engines of the two-stroke cycle type.

With these and other objects in view, as will appear from the following description, the invention consists in the features of construction and in the combinations and ar rangements of. parts hereinafter described and claimed, the advantages of which will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrat ing the invention in what is at present con sidered to be its preferred embodiment,

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of'the engine, certain portions thereof being broken away to disclose operating parts otherwise obscured;

Fig. 2 is a view, partially in end elevation and partially in section, of the engine shown in Fig. 1, the section being taken in part along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional'view of one of the cylinder-bearing rotors, the section being taken along a plane extending through the cylinders and intersecting the rotational axis; 7

Figs. 4and 5 are somewhat diagrammatic views illustrating the relative positions of the several cylinders and their respective pistons at different periods in a cycle of operations of the engine;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing portions of the two cylinder-bearing rotors together with part of a floating spider which ri idly interconnects the pistons;

*ig. 7 is a detail sectional view showing the contact making members for operating the spark plug in one of the cylinders of the engine; and s Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view of said contact members taken at right angles to the plane of the section shown in Fig. 7

The illustrated engine comprises two eccentr'ically mounted rotary elements or rotors 10 and 11, each provided with two radial cylinders 12, thecylinders of each rotor being disposed in longitudinal alinement at opposite sides of the rotational axis and all four cylinders being arranged for rotation in the same vertical plane. Each cylinder 12 is provided with a piston 13 and the pistons are severally secured to the radiating arms of a spider 14, the latter being a rigid structure adapted to float freely in a vertical plane as required to permit the two cylinder-bearing rotors to revolve freely about their respective axes. The rotors 10 and 11 are constructed in the form of yokes each comprising relatively short parallel side arms 15 and a relatively long transverse bar or connecting portion 16. The transverse yoke bars 16 are disposed at opposite sides of the piston spider 14 and are centrally secured to the inner ends of two shafts 17 and 18, respectively, which are journaled in eccentric horizontal bearings 19 carried by standards20 rising from a base 21. The short side arms 15 of the rotor yokes project inwardly from opposite faces of the transverse bars 16 to rigidly supportthe cylinders 12. The piston spider 14 com prises a central block or hub 22 of cruciform shape, and four equally spaced radial arms 23 which serve as piston rods, the arms or rods 23 being rigidly secured to said block and extending through and being slidable in apertures in the horizontal side arms 15 of the rotor yokes. The opposite sides of the block 22 are in contact with the adjacent connecting portions of the rotor yokes. The pistons 13 are rigidly secured to the arms or rods 23 and are provided with suitable packing rings 24 as shown in Fig. 3. The cylinders may be provided with annular radiating ribs 25.

The above described construction and arrangement of the cylinder rotors and the piston spider is such that when the engine is in operation said elements are constrained to revolve in unison, the cylinder rotors turning about their fixed eccentric axes while the piston spider turns with the rotors The piston spider, however, does not revolve about a fixed axis but its center is constrained to travel through a circular orbit of a diameter equal to the distance between the eccentric axes of the cylinder rotors, and furthermore the direction of travelof the center of said spider is opposite to the direction of travel of said cylinder rotors. It is evident therefore that as the rotors revolve the pistons reciprocate concurrently therein, a complete reciprocation of each pistonbeing effected at each complete revolution of its respective cylinder.

To lessen the torsional strain imposed upon the arms of the piston spider 14 as a power impulse imparted to a piston of one rotor is transmitted through said spider to the other rotor, the cruciform block 22 is provided with two perpendicularly disposed ribs or tongues 26 (Fig. 6) which project from opposite sides of said block andare slidably received in intersecting grooves 27 that are provided in the adjacent portions of the rotoryoke s 10 and 11. This construction affords a. floating coupling or Hookham joint connection between the cylinder rotors and the revolving piston spider which enables the eccentric rotation of the former to be transmitted directly from the center of one rotor to the center of the other rotor.

Although not limited thereto the present invention is embodied, for illustrativepurposes, in an engine of the internal combustion type and is constructed to operate upon the two-stroke cycle principle. To this end the following novel provision is made for supplying the combustible mixture to the cylinders, for precompressing and firingsaid mixture, and for exhausting the products of combustion from the cylinders.

The inner end of each cylinder 12 is closed by the rotor arm 21 to which the cylinderis secured, thus providing a precompression chamber 30 (Fig. 3), between the piston and said rotor arm, into which the combustible mixture is introduced through a port 31 which is in communication with said, chamber when the piston has reached the end of its outward or exhaust stroke. The port 31 of each cylinder is connectedby means of a tube 32, a radial conduit 33 in the respective rotor, and a central bore 34in the rotor shaft v with a stationary annular chamber S5.(Fig.2)

which surrounds the shaft and communicates with the bore 34 through a series of spaced radial openings 36 in the shaft. The chamber 35 associated with each rotor shaft is connected by suitable tubes 38 with a single carburetor 39 which may be conveniently supported by a bracket 40 secured to one of the standards 19. Each piston 13 is provided with a transfer passage 41 leading outwardly from its inner end and terminating in a port 42 in the cylindrical face of the piston near, the outer end thereof. lVhen the piston has completed its power stroke the port 42 registers with a port 43 at one end of a transfer conduit 44 the opposite end of which is in communication through an inlet port 45 with the. outer end of a combustion chamber 46. An exhaust port 48 in the, side of the cylinder is arranged to be uncovered by the piston as the latter nears the end of the power stroke. A lip 49 projects in an axial direction from the inner end of each piston and serves to cover the inner end of the transfer conduit when the piston is in its outermost position.

To. explode the charges in the cylinders each cylinder head is provided with a su it able spark plug 50. The spark plugs 50 of the cylinders carried by the rotor 10 are severally connected, by suitable wires 51 with contact members 52 upon the rotor which are adapted to separately engage a station. ary contact member 53 on the bearing 19 when the cylinder connected therewith reaches the uppermost position in its path of rotation. The stationary contact mem ber may be connected through an induction coil with a magneto or storage battery in the usual manner. The spark plugs of the cylinders, carried by the rotor 11 are similarly electrically connected with contact members upon said rotor and these contact members 55 are adapted to separately engage a stationary contact member 56 on the inner side of the adjacent standard 20, said member 56 being suitably connected with the magneto or other source of electrical energy.

With this arrangement it will be seen that the cylinders on the rotor .10 will fire when they reach their uppermost positions while the cylinders carried by the rotor 11 will fire when they reach their lowermost positions,

In operation, as the piston of any cylinder moves outwardly upon its exhaust stroke a partial vacuum is established in the precompression chamber 30 and when the pistonreaches the end of said stroke the port is uncovered and a charge is drawn into the pre-compression chamber 30. The lip at this time covers the port so that the charge is confined in the chamber and as the piston moves inwardly upon its next power stroke the charge is compressed beneath it until the transfer. ports 42 and 43 are brought into registry, whereupon the pie-compressed charge rushes through the transfer passages 41 and 44, and into the combustion chamber 31. The exhaust port was uncovered by the piston just prior to the time the transfer ports were brought into registry. The burnt gases are therefore partly exhausted-when a new charge is admitted to the combustion chamber and the incoming chargeserves to displace the remaining burnt gases thus completely scavenge the chamber.

It will be seen that inasmuch as the transfer passage 44 discharges at one endof the combustion chamber at a point diagonally opposed to the exhaust port which is located at the opposite end of said chamber, there will be no tendency for the new charge to escape through the exhaust port before the chamber has been completely scavenged and refilled with a fresh charge. This is considered to be an important improvement over the USFLIELl construction wherein the inlet and exhaust ports are located substantially in opposed positions and it is necessary toprovide a deflecting fin upon the outer end of the piston toprevent the incoming charge from escaping prematurely through the exhaust port. It will be also noted that by means of the present arrangement of ports in the cylinders and pistons the use of valves is entirely obviated, thus materially simplifying the construction of these parts as well as making the engine more positive and reliable in operation.v

An engine constructed as herein illustrated and described comprises in its entire assembly only three moving parts, namely, the two rotors and the piston carrying element. Inasmuch as no cams, cranks or simi lar parts are employed there will be aminimum amount of friction'and wear resulting from the running of the engine and vibration and noise will be practically eliminated. F urtherinore, the construction is: such that the engine can be inexpensively manufactured and will be of remarkably small size and light weight in proportion to the amount of power developed.

The invention has been disclosed herein for illustrative purposes in an embodiment at present preferred, but it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description.

What is claimed is 1. An engine comprising two rotors, one mounted eccentrically relatively to the other, cylinders carried by each of said rotors, pistons in said cylinders, and means constructed and arranged to convert relative radial movement of said cylinders and their respective pistons into rotary movement of said rotors.

2. An engine comprising two rotors, one mounted eccentrically relatively to the other, cylinders carried by each of said rotors, pistons in said cylinders, and floating means to which said pistons are rigidly secured said means interconnecting said rotors for rotation in unison about their respective axes.

3. An engine comprising two eccentric shafts, rotors severally secured to said shafts and having radial cylinders formed therein, pistons in said cylinders, piston rods rigidly secured to said pistons, said rods extending through-the innerends: of said cylinders and having their inner ends secured together to constitute a rigid piston bearing element and said element serving to maintain the two rotors in radial spaced relation and being free to revolve with said rotors to permit relative movement to take place concurrently between each of said cylinders and its respective piston. 4. An engine comprising spaced bearings. oneeccentric relatively to the other, a. shaft journaled in each of said bearings, a rotor supported by each of said shafts, said rotors being arranged side-by-side and located between said bearings, cylinders in said rotors, all of said cylinders being arranged for rotation in the same plane, pistons in said cylinders, and a floating element located between said rotors to which said pistons are secured and by which theyare maintained in fixed relation to one another.

5. An engine comprising two eccentrically mounted rotors severally provided with a pair of cylinders arranged in axial. aline ment at opposite sides of the axis of rotation of the respective rotor, a floating spider having four equally spaced radial arms, and pistons within said cylinders severally secured to the outer ends of said spider arms, said spider and pistons affording means for connecting said rotors for rotation in unison with the cylinders of one rotor in definite spaced relation to the cylinders of the other rotor and for transmitting rotation to said rotors.

6. An engine comprising two eccentrically mounted rotors severally provided with a pair of cylinders arranged in axial alinement at opposite sides of the axis of rotation of the respective rotor, a floating spider between said rotors having four equally spaced radial arms, pistons within said cylinders severally secured to the outer ends of said spider arms, said spider and pistons affording means for connecting said rotors for rotation in unison with the cylinders of one rotor in definite spaced relation to the cylinders of the other rotor and for transmitting rotation to the said rotors, and cooperating means on said spider and rotors for reinforcing the spider arms against torsional strain without interfering with the eccentric rotation of said rotors- 7. An engine comprising two eccentrically mounted rotors severally provided with a pair of cylinders arranged in axial alinement at opposite sides of the axis of rotation of the respective rotors, a floating spider between said rotors having four equally spaced radial arms, and pistons within said cylinders severally secured to the outer ends of said spider arms, said spider and pistons affording means for rotation in unison with the cylinders of one rotor in definite spaced relation to the cylinders of the other rotor and for transmitting rotation to said rotors, and said spider having a sliding tongue-andgroove connection with both of said rotors constructed and arranged to reinforce the arms of the spider against torsional strain resulting from the rotation in unison of said rotors, said connection being constructed and arranged to permit free rotation of said rotors about their respective eccentric axes.

S. An engine comprising two eccentrically mounted rotors carrying power generating means and power transmitting means for concurrently rotating said rotors about their respective axes comprising a floating element connecting said rotors for rotation in unison. 9. An engine comprising'two eccentrically mounted rotors each provided with radial cylinders, a floating element provided With pistons severally fitted wlthin said cylinders, and lnterengaging devices on said element and rotors for maintaining the latter in fixed angular relation.

10. An engine comprising two eccentrically mounted rotors each provided with radial cylinders, a floating element between said rotors, pistons within said cylinders rigidly secured to said floating element thereby connecting said element and rotors for revolution in unison, and supplemental means on said piston carrying element and rotors for coupling together said rotors at their central portions without interfering with their eccentric rotation.

11. An engine comprising two el-centric shafts, rotors severally secured to said shafts and having radial cylindersformed therein,

said rotors being arranged side-by-side and having diametrical. grooves in their opposed faces, pistons in said cylinders, a floating spider having a hub and equally spaced radial arms to the outer ends of which said pistons are severally secured, and diametrical tongues arranged at right angles to each other upon opposite sides oi? said hub for cooperatire engagen'ient with said grooves to couple said rotors for eccentric rotation.

12. An engine comprising eccentrically mounted rotors, cylinders carried by each of said rotors, pistons in said cylinders, piston rods for said pistons, and bearings in the cylinder heads for said piston rods. said piston rods being rigidly connected together in fixed angular relation to constrain said rotors to turn in unison.

In testimony whereof I have aliixed my signature.

HAROLD T. PROS? ER. 

